The house is just a few steps across the street from
Galleria Taal. After perusing the vintage camera and old photographs, we walked over to the Apacible house. It was already past its opening hours, but one of the persons-in-charge still welcomed us to look around. There is no entrance fee here, because the Apacible family has donated the house and all its contents to the government.
Don Leon and Matilde Apacible owned the house. Don Leon was Emilio Aguinaldo’s Finance Officer, so the Apacibles are an influential and wealthy family at that time. There is a tour guide on site but another group was already getting a tour, so we went on our own.
It’s quite a generous donation by the Apacibles. The house sits on a sizeable lot on the main street of the town of Taal. The entrance, which is really the side of the house, has the garage. Upon entry, a carriage welcomes you back through time.
The living areas are found on the second floor. Like most period houses in the Philippines, the ground floor is made of bricks and the upper floor is made mostly of wood. Most of the furnishings are also made of wood, from the hardwood floor, wood panels and hardwood furniture.
All over the house, one would sense the opulence it had and still has. Although the house lacks the convenience of technologies invented in the last century, it has things that even today only the very well-off have in their homes. In the living room, several portrait paintings of the family members hang on the wall, crystal chandelier adorn the ceiling and a piano sits inconspicuously on one side of the room.
The bedrooms are amply furnished. The dining area is filled with antique China plates, serving dishes and vases. The kitchen looks bare without modern appliances, but I can imagine the room filled with servants, preparing a meal for the family. The garden in front the house is lush, obviously maintained so plants and trees are sprawling.
Next time you’re in the area, come back through time and see the way the Apacibles lived.
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